Grain-drier.



F. R. MORRIS.

GRAIN DBIER.

APPLICATION FILED PPB.12, 1912.

Patented June 11, 1912.

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BOLUMBIA PMNOGRAPN C0..wASIHNuToNy D. c.

F. R. MORRIS.

GRAIN DRIER.

N FILED FEB. 12, 1912. www Patent-,ea June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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GRAIN DRIBR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12, 1912.`

' Patented June 11, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PMNDGRAFH CO..WASH|NGTON. D. c.

AJNTT sTATES PATENT oEErcE.

FULTON R. MORRIS, OE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, AsSIGNoR To MORRIS GRAIN DRIER AND sALvAeE COMPANY, OE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION 0E WIS- CONSIN.

GRAIN-DRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Application led February 12, 1912. Serial N o. 677,150.

T0 all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FULTON R. ll'lonms, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of ldlisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Grain-Driers, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for drying grain such as salvage grain recovered after an elevatoi1 fire or the `like where it is necessary to drive off a considerable amount of moisture.

An object of the invention is to provide a grain drier construction with walls of cement which will avoid. the loss of heat by radiation and which will facilitate the plac ing of the air ducts or screens through which air is admitted and discharged from the drying chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide a grain drier with means for connecting the air ducts with either the air supply side or the exhaust side of the drying chamber.

Another object of theinvention is to provide a regulating discharge door which will permit of t-he control of the flow of grain through the drying chamber so as to affect the parts thereof alike.

Another object of the invention is to pr0- vide a grain drier with a drying chamber and a cooling chamber into which the drying chamber discharges, the fanforforcing air into the drying'chamber being connected with the cooling chamber so as to drawthe air therefrom whereby the air will receive a preliminary heating 'from its cooling effect upon the grain.

Another object of the invention is to improve upon details o-f construction.

I/Vith the above 'and other obj ects in view the invention consists in the grain drier as herein claimed and all equivalents.

Referring tothe accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference Iindicate the same parts in the different views: Figure 1 isa sectional elevation of a grain drier constructed in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2 is an. enlarged longitudinal Y sectional view of one of the dryingchambers; Fig.. 3 is a transverse sectional view thereof; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view of the cooling chambers; Fig. 5 is a plan view is preferably adapted for holding a pair ofA drying chambers l1 directly above a pair of cooling chambers 12 which maybe of practically the same construction.

The drying'chambers 11 and the cooling chambers 12 are desirably formed of cement and are arranged in pairs positioned side by side as shown in Fig. l with their adjacent walls connected to form intermediate air chambers 39 and 40 respectively from which hot air is supplied to the drying chambers of the drier and warm air is rcceived from the cooling chambers of the cooler. Theside walls ofthe grain chambers of the drier and the cooler are formed with openings through them in which openings are held what are known as ducts which consist of frames covered with a wire netting.

and forming tube klike passageways extending entirely across the grain chamber from one side to the other. As shown in Figs. 6 and 7 there are end pieces 13 of the shape of the cross section of the duct, that is with Ivertical side walls and an inverted V shaped top wall and tothese end pieces is secured a ridge strip 14: at the apex of the duct while basel strips 15 connect the lower endsv of the end pieces and wire netting 16 isdrier 11, but instead of each duct openingA 4to both sides of the chamber as with the drier 11, ducts of the cooler are arranged in horizontal tiers and the tiers of ducts alternately connect with the opposite sides of the chamber so that ducts of certain tiers open to the air chamber and ducts'of the other tiers open to the outside of the cooler as shown in Fig. 1. In either case the duct is held inyplace by set screws 17 in the end pieces which engage the sides of the openings in the cement walls, and this permitsv of -any -duct being read-ily removed when desired without interfering with the -other ducts. The. lowermostcourse of ducts of the drier open at one end only as with the ducts of the cooler as will be clearly seen in Fig. 3. ,T/Vhile the chiots of the drier open to both sides of the chamber, provision is that chamber, which arrangement `results in alternate tiers of ducts connecting with the ai-r chamber and intermediate tiers of ducts connecting with the outside of the grain chamber. The shutters may be operated as desired, but are preferably worked in uni- .son on opposite sides of each grain chamber by yhaving the rackrods 19 meshing with pinions 21 on shafts 22 which are journaled across the grain chambers and are provided with crank handles 23 and kpreferably with ratchet mechanism 24. In order that both of t-he shafts 22 at the opposite ends of each grain chamber may be operated togetherl they may be connected by a. chain 25 passing around sprocket wheels 26 thereon.

The bottom of each of the grain chambers is formed of a series of hoppers 27 of wire netting, each with its contracted lower end closed by a blade 28 of a sliding gate. The gate, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is formed of an angle iron frame 29 with the blades 28 extending across it at intervals and is slidably supported by having the Vframe 29 bear on rollers 80 which are held by hangers 31 on. a metal plate y32 which forms a lining for the lower part of the grain chamber. A lever 33 is connected by a link 34 with the sliding gate and by means thereof the gate may be moved to open the outlet of the grain chamber to the desired extent. The wire fabric which forms the hoppers 27 continues along the ends of the grain chamber and is spaced therefrom to prevent the grain resting against the fiat surface of the wall where it would be delprived of ventilation.

The drier 11 has its air chamber connected with a blower 35 by means of a passageway `36 and the blower draws the air from the air chamber of the cooler 12 and through a heater 37 of any desired construction.

In operation the damp or moist grain is delivered by a chute 38 to the grain chambers of the drier 11 and is permitted to flow at a rate depending upon the amount of moisture contained in the grain and the extent to which it is desired to be relieved thereof. By adjusting the position of the lever 33 the outflow of the grain may be control'led to correspond with the inflow or the gate may be closed entirely to retain grain for a determined length of time. The grain as it passes through the drier 11 has the miosture removed therefrom by the circulation of hot air therethrough fromthe fan 35, such air being evenly distributed throughout the body of the drier by reason of the numerous ducts which admit it from the air chamber and the other ducts which collect it and lead it to the outside of the drier walls. When the grain reaches the bottom of the drier and has had the moisture removed therefrom to the desired extent it is permitted to escape through the open gate into the cooler 12 below where it is subjected to a cooling process by having the cool dry air drawn therethrough by the suction of the blower 35, the air entering through the ducts which open to the .outside of the cooler and passing through the cooler to the ducts which open to the air chamber. The air in the cooler 12 not only serves to lower the temperature of 'the grain after it has been dried, but t-he heat which is taken up by it relieves the heater 37 of the necessity for heating the air to the full extent, the air receiving its preliminary heating in the cooler 12 and being raised to its drying temperature in the heater 37. The discharge of the grain from the cooler 12 is controlled by the position of the sliding gate and any suitable conveyer mechanism may be positioned beneath the gate to carry the grain where desired.

By means of the shutters 18 the direction of air through the air ducts may be reversed, the inlet air ducts becoming the outlet air ducts and vice versa. This change is desirable in drying grain which is vvery moist and which is being held for some time'in the drier, for` that grain which is closest to the outlet ducts and therefore receives the heating and drying effect of less degree than the grain surrounding the inlet ducts will be more thoroughly heated and dried when these ducts are reversed and become the `inlet ducts.

By making the walls of the drier of cement they have a desired heat insulating property which avoids thecondensation of moisture when the drier is started in operation and retain the heat during operations and between operations to make the process more economical.v This type of structure also facilitates the'formation of the duct openings which are molded into the wall during its construction. The ducts themselves only require the loosening of the set screws 17 to enable them to be withdrawn for any purpose and thus the particular duct requiring attention may be removed and replaced without disturbing others.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:v

1. A grain drier, comprising a chamber formed of cement walls having duct openings molded therein, and air ducts extending across the chamber with their ends removably secured in said openings.

2. A grain drier, comprising a chamber formed of cement walls having duct openings molded therein, air ducts extending across the chamber with their ends removably secured in said openings, and meansv for closing some of the air ducts on one side of the chamber and forI closing the other air ducts on the other side of the chamber.

3. A grain drier, comprising a drying chamber having rows of duct openings on its opposite sides, air ducts extending across the drying chamber and connecting with the duct openings, shutters slidably mounted on each side of the drying chamber to close the duct openings of alternate rows, rack bars connected with the shutters, a shaft journaled across: the drying chamber, pinions on the shaft meshing with the rack bars, and means for turning the shaft for sliding the lshutters on both sides of the drying cham- 4. In a grain drier having walls with duct openings therein, a removable air duct comprising arch shaped end pieces, strips connecting the upper ends of the end pieces together and other strips connecting the lower ends of the end pieces together, an open mesh fabric surrounding the frame formed by said strips and the end pieces, and set screws in the end pieces for engaging the walls ofthe openings and holding the air duct in place.

5. A grain drier, comprising a chamber, an open mesh bottom for the chamber forming a series of hoppers, a sliding gate mounted on the bottom of the chamber and having transverse blades for closing the mouths of the hoppers, said gate comprising a rectangular frame of angle iron with the blades extending thereacross, hangers on the bottom of the chamber projecting through the gate between the blades, rollers on the hangers for supporting the flanges of the angle iron side members of the gate, and means for sliding the gate to uniformly vary the outlet from the several hoppers.l

In testimony whereof, I ax my signature, in presence of two witnesses. y

FULTON'R. MORRIS.

Witnesses:

C. I-I. KEENEY, GLaRA MUEHLBAGH.

opies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

